The Art of Dreaming with Open Eyes
by fortunaflying
Summary: "Reading is dreaming with open eyes." -Anissa Trisdianty. Aurora is a frequent visitor to a library. Maleficent just happens to be working at said library. They meet one day, purely by chance, and something falls into place that neither of them knew was missing. Modern AU Malora.


**A/N: this is trash because i worked on it primarily late at night. HOWEVER, I've had this idea for a really long time and just needed to write ****_something_****. i may come back and fix what i don't like (read: the inconsistent style ughhhh) later. **

**modern AU malora. enjoy!**

Aurora loved reading. More than she loved reading itself, she loved the stories.

It had been that way ever since she could remember. As a little girl, all the dreams she'd ever had involved her getting swept off her feet by some handsome, charming prince and living happily ever after in a castle in a scenario straight out of a fairytale. Throughout her elementary and middle school years, the dreams had shifted. Now instead of a princess, she was a fearless adventurer, befriending magical creatures of a wide variety and traveling the world. Even in high school, she'd more often than not catch herself drifting off in a daydream mid-class in which she was an accomplished sorceress, armed with countless spells and potions that she could use to vanquish any enemy, battle any foe…

Perhaps she was rather the hopeless dreamer. Of course she knew that none of her visions would even come close to becoming a reality. But that was part of what made books so magical- _anything_ could be possible. It was possible to traverse new realms, meet new people, learn of faraway lands, lose oneself in a classic love tale- all without leaving one's seat.

One of the things that stayed constant throughout Aurora's life was her love for fantasy stories. She had always enjoyed reading of dragons and magical lands and elixirs, always preferred castles and enchantments to robots or mysteries or historical figures.

When she had moved to the small town where she now resided, she'd been ecstatic to learn that her apartment was no more than five blocks away from the most amazingly extensive library that Aurora had ever seen in her life. It was not, by any stretch of the imagination, grand or elaborate, nor did it give off the regal, pristine feeling that she had come to expect from large and well-stocked libraries. Stepping into this library felt just like entering any other building, save for the shelves upon shelves stacked with books of all lengths and genres.

Aurora had never checked, but she was more than certain that this library held any book she could ever desire to read. The aisles were long and narrow, each shelf positively packed to its limit with books, and every hallway and staircase seemed to lead to a new section that Aurora had yet to discover.

Of course, despite the wide variety of publications offered by the library that had quickly become her sanctuary, she could almost always be found in the fantasy section, scouring the titles for the rare book that she had not yet read.

It didn't take long for her to fall into a routine. She would select two or three books- most likely ones that she had already finished, but this didn't matter to her- and curl into an armchair to read for as long as she could without being late for her part-time job (working at a cozy little cafe two streets over), take the books to the front desk, get them checked out, and leave.

It was the same thing every time. Occasionally, she would stop a passing shelving assistant to inquire about the whereabouts of a particular novel, or encounter a fellow visitor to the library, but those were surprisingly scarce for a library of such great size.

Nothing ever changed between her visits, which were once or twice a week when she could spare the time. And that was perfectly fine with her. It wasn't that she didn't want to interact with other people- she practically thrived on social interaction with friends, family, neighbors, strangers, anybody. She could strike up a conversation with an inanimate object if she so chose to.

It was simply that when she was reading, whatever book she had chosen to direct her attention toward had a tendency to capture _all_ of her focus, rendering her utterly captivated by the characters and plot. The time that she spent reading was just about the only time that she preferred to be left alone and paid little to no attention to things going on around her. Consequently, she was often blissfully unaware of her surroundings.

This being said, the collision really wasn't entirely her fault. It had been purely accidental. She'd been carrying a small pile of books to the front desk to check out, engrossed in a particularly interesting story, and crashed head-first into another person while rounding a corner.

The impact had sent her flying backward, wind knocked from her lungs and heart pounding. "Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry- I should have been looking where I was going, are you okay?" The words came tumbling from her mouth before she had even registered the fall. She scrambled to her feet, face heating up with embarrassment, picking up books from the floor without checking to see if they were hers.

"I appreciate your concerns, but I can assure you that I am perfectly fine. Are you unharmed?" A low, even voice sent shivers down Aurora's spine. She looked up quickly, intending to apologize again, but soon was left without a single coherent thought at the sight that she was met with.

The woman that stood motionless before her (how had she recovered so quickly?) was very tall and very intimidating. She wore a long, floor-length black skirt and a black cardigan over a dark grey shirt. Her long raven colored hair fell sleekly over her shoulders, almost reaching her waist. The woman's face and hands, the only parts of her skin that were visible, were a breathtaking olive tone, flawless and smooth. Her eyes were a dark, rich brown, but they lacked any trace of warmth or friendliness. Her features were all sharp angles, cold and calculating and without emotion. Somewhere in the back of Aurora's dazed mind, she noted that this woman would be exactly what she would think of should she be asked to imagine some sort of ancient, evil being who could strike her enemies down with a lightning bolt should she so desire.

Aurora's mouth and throat felt as if she'd just swallowed an entire desert's worth of sand. Her heart thumped loudly in her chest. She remembered that she was still crouched on the floor, still holding books that belonged to this strange, albeit intriguing, woman. She stood so quickly that her vision went hazy, and she stepped forward, swaying slightly. When the dizziness had passed, she hastily went through the books in her arms and set aside a stack of the ones she didn't recognize. To Aurora's relief, the woman didn't seem at all impatient or in a hurry.

Blushing, she held out the books with an apologetic grimace. "Here. I-I'm sorry again for bumping into you. I honestly didn't see you, and I guess I should have been paying better attention to things around me- that happens sometimes, when I'm reading and walking at the same time, it's just a bad habit of mine-"

"Thank you." The woman cut off Aurora's rambling with her pointed statement. "As I said before, I am quite alright." She gracefully took the books from the younger woman's grasp and placed them on a nearby cart with only a few books already on it. "Are you intending to check those out?" she asked, gesturing to the books that Aurora was now gripping tightly, causing her knuckles to turn white.

"Oh- um, yes," Aurora said, not without a fair bit of confusion. The woman said nothing more, but turned and began walking towards the front desk. After a moment's hesitation, Aurora followed after her, trying to convince herself that she wasn't following this stranger who she had no previous interactions with, and that she was simply going about her normal routine and checking out her books.

Approaching the checkout desk, she saw that the woman had taken a seat behind the counter and was staring at Aurora with an expectant look. Still partially in shock, it took her a while to process this. Finally, an embarrassingly long time later, everything clicked into place. "Oh- you're- you work here? I mean, you're a librarian here?" She wanted to smack herself- she sounded as if she'd never met a librarian before in her life.

To her surprise, the woman rewarded her with a fraction of a smirk- the first display of emotion that Aurora had seen of her since they had run into each other a few minutes prior. "Yes, I am." She held out a hand, which Aurora stared at with a blank look for a few seconds before letting out a small "oh!" of realization and fumbling in her pocket for her library card, which she gave to the woman along with her books.

Momentarily, the whole library seemed to go silent as the woman ran a scanner over each of Aurora's books with practiced ease, save for the high-pitched beeping noises that the scanner made every time it checked out a book under Aurora's card. Having gone through the process many times before, she was unsure why the familiar sounds now seemed so foreign and distant to her, as if she were hearing them the first time from very far away.

Then her books and her card were handed back to her, along with a slip of paper reading the date that the books needed to be returned by, and the dream-like illusion shattered like glass. Aurora was suddenly engulfed by an inexplicable but strong urge to say something to the woman- apologize again? No, a third apology would likely be not only unnecessary, but annoying. Ask for her name? Would that be too unacceptable, seeing as the only relation they had to each other was the fact that they'd collided by accident, then the woman had checked out Aurora's books for her? Her mind raced with endless possible things to say, all of them meaningless and none of them practical.

What Aurora actually ended up saying was, "Do you always work this shift?" The woman had stared at her, a hint of uncertainty evident in her eyes. Then, just as Aurora was about to turn tail, walk away as fast as possible, and forget about the whole thing, she nodded once. She barely had time to smile at her before the woman vanished through a door behind the desk, leaving Aurora standing at the counter, clutching her books with both hands. She felt dazed and breathless, although she knew she couldn't still be catching her breath from her earlier fall. There was an exhilarating sensation in her chest that danced around her stomach and lit her heart aflame. It was a strange feeling, but it was in no way unpleasant.

She didn't know why she felt this way. They had met purely by accident. She didn't even know the librarian's name…

And yet, something deep within her wanted nothing more than to see her again.


End file.
